Snow Day!

More often than not snow days seem to slip away - we get up late, laze around, don't bother getting dressed, etc. etc. Not this time. Brynna and I were blessed with a snow day on Wednesday (at 33 I still look forward to them!) and we took full advantage. The day would have been perfect if Rick had been able to stay home too. We spent our morning baking blueberry banana muffins, snuggling while watching a little Mary Poppins and taking a two hour walk in the snow (even stopping for a chat with the mail lady). Brynna is without doubt a Maine girl - she has embraced winter and the cold weather. At one point during our walk she "wished she could stay out all day".

Heading out. We didn't want "baby girl" to miss out on the adventure.

"Come on Mom!" Heading across the bridge into the village.

This photo is a little blurry - within a few minutes of leaving the house the snow really started to come down. By the time we stopped for a snack at the coffee shop "baby girl" had a good inch of snow in her lap.

Continuing on after our snack break. Apparently B didn't get enough to eat.

I think you have a little something...right there.


Watching the "Squirrel Island" boat offloading and discussing the importance of bumpers.

The Chamois

What could be more fun than dancing around in Daddy's nasty rank cycling chamois?

Maybe the stench finally got to her.

A Day with the Brownes

Sunday Brynna and I had a great day hanging with Tina, Calia and Nolan while Kevin helped Rick on the house. Most weekends it is just B-girl and I chillin' so having company for the day was a welcome change. Brynna had so much fun that she completely melted after Calia left - lamenting that "Calia is never coming back!". Oh the drama.

At least Nolan looked.

B generally loathes having her picture taken these days. I usually have to say something ridiculous to get her to smile. I can't remember what I said here but I'm sure she is convinced I know NOTHING about princesses.

Dress-up was the theme of the day.

House update

Saturday, we had a beautiful day with temps in the 30's. I was so psyched that I failed to take any pictures. Instead, Don and I put our heads down and plowed out a bunch of insulation and sheating. Sunday morning blessed us with -13degees when I got to the site. Holy frick! Thankfully, once the sun came up it warmed up to a balmy 20. Good times.

Begining of the day.

Staging set-up

Lower roof on!

Evening swim

Thursday evening, after work and school, we decided to break from the typical evening of Rick working on the house and B and I hanging at home. Instead we took advantage of our close proximity to the local Y and headed in for some family swim time. We thought it would take a bit to reorient Brynna with the pool and the skills she learned last year at swim lessons. Boy were we wrong. Apparently all of her time "swimming" in the bathtub has paid off. Her excitement was contagious. As soon as the bubbles were on Brynna jumped right in - occasionally fogetting that she couldn't quite swim yet. By the end of the evening she was swimming with a semi-doggie paddle using us for balance only.

Another busy weekend

The house construction is humming along right now. We're slightly behind where I hoped we'd be at this point but considering we've only hired out the foundation I think we're doing pretty damn well. Over the weekend we got the rafters up on the curved roof and started to sheath the exterior. They're both slow processes because the architect in me can't let anything be easy but in the end it'll all be worth in (if there ever is an end!).

Sunny day on Saturday.

Not so sunny on Sunday.

While Don and I worked on insulating and sheathing the exterior, Marcy shoveled the house and kept the dog entertained.

Now, THAT'S a smart lookin dog right there!

house update

Things are happening on the house. Thanks to many helpful family member and friends we continue to make good progress on the house. Over the weekend we were able to get all of the second floor exterior walls up. Next up, roof rafters.

view from the kitchen into the living room

First wall up.

last wall up.

Don't worry, you're not still drunk for your new year's festivities, the roof IS curved.

What's in a picture

At first glance, this picture appears to be like any other family sledding pic.

But upon further inspection (and a closer view) you can see that Chance is trying to forcefully remove my right ear mid-slide.

X-mas Nelson style

It is tradition in my family that on Christmas (day or eve depending on when we can go up) to play a game of snow softball on my parents lawn. If you've ever seen their lawn you know that its more than a bit challenging with trees, steep slopes and ledges. Basically everything you need to have fun and hurt yourself in grand fashion.

This year, the softball game petered out quickly (mostly because we all suck now) and we decided to go for an even older Nelson tradition, demolition sledding. The premise is simple, get a sucker to head down the driveway first then come from behind and try to wipe out, flip, ram, dismember etc the sledder in front. If all goes well, you end up with a pile of twisted limbs, snow down the crack of your arse and someone hopping around going "ow, ow, ow". Oh, and did I mention that we have a dog who loves to chase us, grab us by the arm, head, taint, whatever is available and thrash us to death like a cute little woodland bunny? This year didn't disappoint.

As an added bonus, this year B decided that she was going to finally try sledding and thankfully she loved it. Before long she'll be piloting the toboggan of death.

face full of snow

Chance on the prowl (as you can see, he already took my father out)

Step 1, grab dad by the hood.

Step 2, pull him off the sled.

Step 3, drag him UP the driveway by his hood.

good advice

Got this little gem in the office the other day. It could simply be helpful reminders about how to properly move materials around the construction site OR it could be some mighty fine dating advice. Be sure to click on the image to get the close up. My comments are in red.

cookies for santa

Do you find this odd?

Yeah, me neither.